Planning applications for tall buildings in London dropped by virtually a third final yr, in response to the newest annual tally of high-rise building exercise.
New London Architecture’s 2021 Tall Buildings Survey discovered that final yr in the capital work began on simply 24 buildings of 20 storeys or extra – down from 44 in 2019. According to the report 9 in each 10 tall buildings in the capital’s pipeline have been residential.
The round-up acknowledges the influence of covid-19 on the development sector, however factors to a “rebound in builders’ confidence” after the preliminary financial shock of the pandemic.
According to the information, planning applications for tall buildings fell by 27.1% general – with the overwhelming majority of proposals submitted in the course of the second half of the yr, suggesting optimism started to return after preliminary fears that the pandemic would set off a profound financial collapse or a everlasting shift in demographics.
The report says the full variety of applications for tall buildings was 78 in 2020, down from 107 the earlier yr.
However the survey, produced in partnership with actual property consultancy Knight Frank, additionally reported a 10.8% enhance in approvals for tall buildings granted by planning authorities, with 72 full permissions granted in the course of the yr – up from 65 the earlier yr.
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The survey mentioned the capital’s whole pipeline of tall buildings – together with these in planning or building – stood at 587 final yr, up from 544 in 2019.
New London Architecture chief curator Peter Murray mentioned the capital would don’t have any different however to embrace the event of recent residential towers to maintain up with demand for brand spanking new houses.
“If London is to ship something just like the variety of houses town wants there might be an ongoing strain to construct taller buildings,” he mentioned.
“With boroughs having higher powers round location and scale, west London boroughs which are experiencing unfavorable native responses to new growth might wrestle to fulfill their quantity targets whereas east London boroughs the place there’s much less resistance to excessive rise will proceed to come back high in the charts.”
The report named Tower Hamlets in east London and Southwark and Greenwich in south London as “hotspots” for tower growth. It additionally mentioned there was a “sturdy pattern” of demand for taller buildings in the capital’s suburbs, with outer London now accounting for 37% of the tall constructing pipeline.
Knight Frank head of planning Stuart Baillie mentioned the analysis underpinning the survey indicated “a returning confidence” in delivering high-rise growth in the capital in the medium and long run.
He mentioned that the “upward pattern” of planning approvals throughout London indicated planning authorities and builders have been working collaboratively to reach at constructive planning determinations.
But Baillie famous that the brand new London Plan places extra duty on native authorities to outline applicable top and placement for tall buildings, which he mentioned may mood that pattern.
